With Halloween creeping up on us so quickly, now is the time to start decorating your home! Sure, you could go to your local superstore or craft store and purchase ready-made Halloween decorations, but it’s so much more fun to use vintage pieces (and more economical, too).
Visit your local thrift stores or second-hand stores to find the things you’ll need. Here are three thrifty ideas to get you started:
Glass Cloches
A glass cloche (pronounced kl-oh-sh) always looks great any time of the year, but they are especially fun at Halloween. Just think of all the clever things you can display under them for Halloween:
- Creepy Photographs (see paragraph below for some ideas)
- Plastic Bats
- Human Skull (preferably not a real one, LOL)
- Small Pumpkins or Gourds
- Vintage Doll Head
- Mannequin Hand
- Small apothecary bottles with aged pharmacy labels (they could look like poison bottles)
Can’t find glass cloches? Glass from hurricane lamps and candle holders work just as well. You could even use one of our industrial glass light domes as a cloche!
Age Your Photos
Old and/or creepy photos are always fun to display at Halloween. You might be able to find old photos at a thrift store or yard sale – we have lots of old photos in our shop, as well. You can also turn your digital photos into photos that look like they are a hundred years old using an old photo generator. Here are three websites I found that you can choose from: Pixlr, Old Photo Generator (the website is from Japan, but can be translated to English), and Pho.to.
- Go to one of the websites mentioned above
- Upload a regular photo and then click the GENERATE button to make the photo look like it’s 100+ years old!
- Once you’ve converted your photo, download it, print it, and tuck it under a glass cloche for a fun display.
Easy Luminaries
Turn vintage cylinder vases (found at a thrift store or new at a dollar store) into quick and easy luminaries. You just need vellum paper, a printer, and a flameless tea light!
- Print an old photo (aged using the method above) or any Halloween clipart onto a piece of vellum paper.
- Cut the vellum to fit inside the vase, then roll it and place it inside the vase.
- Drop in a flameless tea light – quick and easy!
If you can’t find cylinder vases, recycled jars (cleaned) or vintage science beakers work great, too!
What are some of your ideas for thrifty Halloween decor?
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Ha, ha, ha! Great ideas, and they don’t sound difficult. I especially like the aging photos idea. Thanks for the tip and the web URL. 🙂
Aging your photos could even be used for gag birthday cards. Thanks for the link.
Super Ideas! Halloween Party was quite popular in France in the 1990s, but has been on the decline for the last few years unfortunately.